Abstract

OBJECTIVE Pulse pressure (PP), an estimate of arterial stiffness, has been shown to be associated with incident cardiovascular disease
(CVD) in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D). However, diabetic kidney disease, a strong predictor of CVD, was not previously
taken into account. Furthermore, the role of PP as a predictor of diabetic nephropathy is not known. Therefore, we prospectively
investigated the associations between PP and these diabetic complications in patients with T1D.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A total of 4,509 patients from the FinnDiane Study participated. Follow-up data on incident CVD events and renal status (median
5.3 years) were available in 69 and 76% of the patients, respectively. Altogether, 269 patients (8.6%) had an incident CVD
event and 370 patients (10.8%) progressed to a higher level of albuminuria or to end-stage renal disease.